Friday, January 14, 2011

For lonely teenager Assange, a computer was his only friend

Adrian Lowe January 15, 2011

''HE WOULD be bullied and the only real saviour in life … was this computer. His mother, in fact, encouraged him to use the computer and at some stage she realised that it had become an addictive instrument to him at a very early age.''

A 1996 court case in Melbourne - details of which were released for the first time yesterday - reveal the beginnings of Julian Assange's fascination with the power of computers.

Now 39, the WikiLeaks co-founder is one the world's unlikeliest celebrities, after taking on the US government by releasing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables.
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He is now in London awaiting extradition proceedings to Sweden to answer rape charges.